A satellite communication system generally comprises one or more gateway stations, a satellite and a number of user stations. The gateway stations provides an interface to the terrestrial networks and are transmitting and receiving communication carriers at high frequencies to and from the satellite. The satellite is functioning as an amplifier and/or frequency converter for the communication carriers. The user stations may be fixed or mobile. In systems comprising a small number of large gateway stations serving a large population of small user stations (fixed or mobile), satellite cost is normally governed by the characteristics of the forward transmission link, i.e. from the gateways to the user stations. This stems from the requirement to use small antennas on the user stations for cost reasons, which in turn requires more satellite power to achieve a particular transmission quality. This requires high power efficiency in the forward link to achieve good system economy.
The communication carriers are exposed to a number of effects that influence the signal quality or the signal level along the path from a gateway to the user station.
The most important elements are:                Variations in transmitter gain leading to variations in output power towards the satellite.        Uplink atmospheric effects such as rain fading and scintillation leading to large signal variations.        Variations in the satellite transponder signal gain.        Downlink atmospheric effects such as rain fading and scintillation.        
The severity of these effects varies with the climatic conditions at the ground stations and their operating carrier frequency. The atmospheric effects are increased for ground earth stations (gateways or user stations) located such that the satellite is seen at a shallow angle above the horizon since the length of the atmospheric path increases with lower elevation angles.
All these contributions adds to a significant variation in the received signal level on the ground which in turn leads to the need of transmitting signals with an excessive margin to ensure a minimum guaranteed quality level. This margin detracts power from the satellite reducing the system capacity and thus the economics of the system as a whole.